[6] 

[Warning: This review contains spoilers.]  Spike Jonze directs this meta tale of a screenwriter losing his mind trying to adapt a book called The Orchid Thief. While his twin brother moves in and begins mirroring him in many ways, he decides he needs to find the author of the book to excavate its meaning. If you can’t already tell, Adaptation is a very hard movie to describe. I’m not sure I fully get it, and I’m tempted to call it a masturbatory effort on the writer’s part, but I enjoyed its unpredictability and exploration of passion and emptiness. I particularly enjoyed Meryl Streep’s performance, but the script’s final act doesn’t do her any favors. For a film largely about defying convention and being original, Adaptation openly admits having to resolve itself conventionally, and then proceeds to do so. It wouldn’t stick in my craw so much if it didn’t hurt Streep’s character so badly (she longs to feel passion and ends up a junkie?) Nicolas Cage delivers one of his better performances and Chris Cooper won the best supporting actor Oscar for his role of John Laroche, a seemingly goofy flower thief with a haunting past. With Tilda Swinton.

Academy Award: Best Supporting Actor (Chris Cooper)

Oscar Nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Actor (Nicolas Cage), Best Adapted Screenplay (Donald and Charlie Kaufman)